M & A wrap: Glencore and Xstrata in mega merger talks
Xstrata and Glencore are in talks over an all-share merger that could create a combined group worth more than $80 billion, shaking up the industry with its biggest deal to date.
Glencore, the world’s largest diversified commodities trader, already owns 34 percent of mining group Xstrata and a tie-up between the two Swiss-based companies — in a deal which would trump Rio Tinto’s $38 billion acquisition of Alcan in 2007 — has long been expected, as Glencore aims to add more mines to its trading clout.
Now that Facebook has filed its hotly anticipated initial public offerings, analysts told Reuters correspondents Alexei Oreskovic and Alistair Barr that the social networking company’s honeymoon with investors may already be over.
Despite the massive IPO, CEO Mark Zuckerberg will exercise almost complete control over Facebook. Here is Zuckerberg’s letter to investors.
The graffiti artist who took Facebook stock instead of cash for painting the walls of the social network’s first headquarters made a smart bet, The New York Times says.
Venture capitalists are flocking to to China, leaving Europe behind, Deal Journal says.
Deals wrap: A successor for Buffett?
A fairly unheralded 44-year-old Chinese-American hedge fund manager, with a strong background as a human rights activist, has become a leading candidate to replace Warren Buffett, should he retire as founder and CEO of the $100-billion Berkshire Hathaway fund, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Li Lu, who was a student leader during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, is the first person to be identified to potentially replace the soon to be 80-year-old Buffett, in what the WSJ story said is “among the most high-profile succession stories in modern corporate history.”
Buffett told the WSJ his retirement plans are not imminent and his job would likely be split after he leaves the company into separate CEO and investing functions. The WSJ story revealed David Sokol, the current chairman of Berkshire unit MidAmerican Energy Holdings, is considered the top contender for Buffett’s CEO role, while Li would potentially serve as one of Berkshire’s top fund managers.
***************
Recently Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg told ABC News’s Diane Sawyer he would only consider an IPO “when it makes sense,” but now Bloomberg, “citing three people familiar with the matter,” reports that may not be until 2012.
The postponement would give Zuckerberg more time to increase users – Facebook just surpassed the 500 million mark – and boost sales which could double to at least $1.4 billion in 2010, according to the sources quoted by Bloomberg.
***************
Deals wrap: No timeline for Facebook IPO
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg did not tip his hand about when the social networking giant would go public, when he sat down recently for an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer.
“When it makes sense, right,” Zuckerberg told Sawyer, adding: “I mean, what we’re most focused on is just building these tools that help people stay connected with the people that they care about. And at some point along the path, I think it’ll make sense to have an IPO. But we’re not running the company to do that.”
************ General Motors has announced it intends to purchase auto finance company AmeriCredit Corp for $3.5 billion. According to the Reuters story the deal “removes an uncertainty for GM as it prepares for a stock offering intended to reduce the U.S. government’s nearly 61 percent ownership stake.”
************ Analysts expect good news when Microsoft reports its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings today, but that may not be enough to cheer some stakeholders, who are apparently displeased with CEO Steve Ballmer, according to a Daily Beast report. Citing unnamed sources, the Daily Beast said “there is growing resentment among a faction of certain executives inside the company who blame Ballmer for the years-long stagnation in Microsoft’s stock price.”
************ Heavyweight private equity firm Blackstone Group announced it has closed its latest $13.5-billion buyout fund, which it started raising nearly three years ago. The company’s sixth fund was initially targeted to be $20 billion, close to Blackstone’s previous buyout fund total of $21.7-billion. According to PE Hub editor Dan Primack, “this close does put a bit of pressure on rival firm KKR, which plans to begin marketing its new fund later this year.”
